- China’s exports declined at the slowest pace in nine months, helping government efforts to sustain the recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy. Shipments dropped 15.2 percent in September from a year earlier, the customs bureau said on its Web site today. That compared with a 23.4 percent slide in August. Imports fell 3.5 percent last month from a year earlier.
- With U.S. debt set to exceed 100% of GDP in 2011, it's no wonder people are looking for alternative ways to preserve wealth. Unprecedented spending, unending fiscal deficits, unconscionable accumulations of government debt: These are the trends that are shaping America's financial future. And since loose monetary policy and a weak U.S. dollar are part of the mix, apparently, it's no wonder people around the world are searching for an alternative form of money in which to calculate and preserve their own wealth. It may be too soon to dismiss the dollar as an utterly debauched currency. It still is the most used for international transactions and constitutes over 60% of other countries' official foreign-exchange reserves. But the reputation of our nation's money is being severely compromised.
- A former Citadel Investment Group senior manager is launching a new hedge fund with three other ex-employees of the Chicago firm, a move that reunites a veteran trading team and adds to an expanding field of startups. Ervin Shindell is starting a Chicago-based firm called RoundKeep Capital Advisors with investment managers Joseph Rotter, Robert Doherty and Robert Donath, each of whom spent between five and 10 years at Citadel, according to a marketing document for the new firm reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
- Saudi Arabia is trying to enlist other oil-producing countries to support a provocative idea: if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, they should pay compensation to oil producers. The oil-rich kingdom has pushed this position for years in earlier climate-treaty negotiations. While it has not succeeded, its efforts have sometimes delayed or disrupted discussions. The kingdom is once again gearing up to take a hard line on the issue at international negotiations scheduled for Copenhagen in December. The chief Saudi negotiator, Mohammad al-Sabban, described the position as a “make or break” provision for the Saudis, as nations stake out their stance ahead of the global climate summit scheduled for the end of the year. “Assisting us as oil-exporting countries in achieving economic diversification is very crucial for us through foreign direct investments, technology transfer, insurance and funding,” Mr. Sabban said in an e-mail message.
- A major Senate climate change bill is written and ready to be debated before the Environment and Public Works committee, the chairwoman of the panel said Tuesday. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s legislation would distribution of tens of billions of dollars of pollution allowances to power plants, manufacturing, and other industries. It will mirror cap and trade legislation passed by the House in late June with, she noted, “a few tweaks.” The legislation has been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency for analysis, which should be completed by the end of the month.
- AIG’s(AIG) “retention bonuses” went to hundreds of employees in the insurer’s troubled financial products unit, including a kitchen assistant who received $7,700 in March, a US government report will reveal on Wednesday. News that support staff shared $168m-plus (£105m-plus) worth of retention awards could undermine AIG’s insistence the bonuses were needed to persuade key employees to stay on and unwind the derivatives trades that almost brought down the insurer last year. The report, by Neil Barofsky, special inspector-general for the US government’s $700bn troubled assets relief programme, could reignite political controversy over pay at the sate- controlled insurer. Employees of AIG’s financial products unit were scheduled to receive another $198m in retention awards in March next year. Mr Barofsky said about 400 employees of AIG’s Financial Products arm shared the more than $168m in retention awards in December 2008 and March 2009, after AIG had been bailed out with hundred of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds. The recipients included the kitchen assistant, who was handed a cash retention bonus of $7,700, and a “file administrator”, who received $700, as well as more senior executives who were paid bonuses of up to $4m. “It is odd for a kitchen assistant to receive a retention award,” said Charles Elson, a corporate governance professor at the University of Delaware. “If everyone receives a retention bonus, it makes you wonder what the point of the program is.”
EFE: - The Alba bloc of South American nations, led by Venezuela and its president, Hugo Chavez, plans to approve a new currency this week to replace the US dollar in trade, citing Huascar Ajata, Bolivia’s vice minister of exports.Ajata said the currency, call the sucre, will at first be used for international transactions and may eventually become a common currency like the European Union’s euro. Finance ministers from across the bloc, which also includes Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua, will meet Oct. 16 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to approve the measure.Members are also planning cooperation in military training and other areas.
- The Import Price Index for September is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +2.0% increase in August.
- Advance Retail Sales for September are estimated to fall -2.1% versus a +2.7% gain in August.
- Retail Sales Ex Autos for September are estimated to rise +.2% versus a +1.1% gain in August.
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- Business Inventories for August are estimated to fall -1.0% versus a -1.0% decline in July.
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- Minutes of Sept. 23 FOMC Meeting.
Upcoming Splits - None of note
Other Potential Market Movers - The Fed’s Tarullo speaking, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, Bloomberg Global Confidence Index, (CHK) analyst, (SAI) investor conference and the API energy inventory report day could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by technology and commodity shares in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly higher into the final hour on gains in my Technology longs and Retail longs. I have not traded today, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is mildly negative as the advance/decline line is slightly lower, sector performance is mostly negative and volume is below average. Investor anxiety is high. Today’s overall market action is neutral. The VIX is falling -.61% and is high at 22.87. The ISE Sentiment Index is low at 101.0 and the total put/call is around average at .81. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running above average most of the day, hitting 2.06 at its intraday peak, and is currently .86. The Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is rising +1.96% today to 70.33 basis points. This index is down from its record March 10th high of 208.75. The North American Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index is falling -.88% to 101.0 basis points. This index is also well below its Dec. 5th record high of 285.99. The TED spread is up 1 basis point to 22 basis points. The TED spread is now down 442 basis points since its all-time high of 463 basis points on October 10th. The 2-year swap spread is -.34% to 36.63 basis points. The Libor-OIS spread is unch. at 13 basis points. The 10-year TIPS spread, a good gauge of inflation expectations, is up +2 basis points to 1.86%, which is down 79 basis points since July 7th. The 3-month T-Bill is yielding .06%, which is unch. today.Cyclical shares are outperforming again today.Retail, Homebuilding, Telecom, Steel and Gold shares are especially strong, rising 1.0%+.Healthcare-related stocks are the only sources of meaningful weakness, falling on reform worries.Overall, today’s action should be viewed as another healthy light volume consolidation.Weekly retail sales jumped +.6% versus a -2.2% decline the prior week and up from a -4.3% decline the last week of August.This is a big positive and if this trend continues it would likely indicate further improvement in broad economic data over the coming months.Nikkei futures indicate a -6 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate an +21 open in Germany tomorrow. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on diminishing economic fear, short-covering, lower long-term rates, takeover speculation, investment manager performance anxiety and earnings optimism.
- Copper prices dropped the most in more than a week as equity markets fell and Rio Tinto Group(RTP) said demand in the U.S. and Europe has yet to recover. “For the next six to 12 months, we are somewhat cautious on the market,” Bret Clayton, the chief executive officer of Rio’s copper business, said today in London. “The U.S. has bottomed out but we’re not seeing a pickup in demand yet,” Clayton said in an interview. “Some expected a pickup in demand when restocking took place. We haven’t seen that yet and we probably don’t anticipate that until later this year.” Copper futures have almost doubled this year as imports rose to record levels in China, the world’s largest metals user. The nation probably reduced inbound shipments last month, Lambrecht said. Purchases of imported copper and related products fell 20 percent to 325,098 metric tons in August compared with a month earlier, according to a government report. “We have seen two months in a row of sharp slowdowns in import demand,” she said. “We are expecting another fall” to be reported tomorrow.
- The Australian dollar’s rally through 90 US cents, the best performance of the past year, may stall after steel prices in China dropped to the lowest since April, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. Chinese steel prices dropped 21% in the past two months. “The steel market is suggesting that demand for Australia’s commodities hasn’t been strengthening in recent months,” said Greg Gibbs, a currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Sydney.
- An Afghan judge resigned from the country’s electoral watchdog commission, blaming what he called “foreign interference” for holding up the declaration of the final result, citing Judge Maulavi Mustafa Barakzai.
- In an unannounced move, President Obama is dispatching up to 15,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced in March. The additional troops are primarily support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police. A Washington Post report published Tuesday said Obama dispatched 13,000 additional troops, but an unnamed defense official familiar with the process told Fox News that the number is closer to 15,000. "Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000," a defense official, speaking anonymously, told the Washington Post.
- Bernie "The Bruiser" Madoff got into a prison-yard tussle with a fellow inmate over -- of all things -- the stock market, eyewitnesses told The Post. And, by inmates' accounts, the 71-year-old Ponzi schemer came out the winner. Madoff, serving 150 years at the Butner, NC, federal prison, was heard last week getting into a heated debate over the state of the market with another senior-citizen jailbird. The shouting match got so heated that the inmate pushed Madoff, who shoved back harder with both hands, causing his attacker to stumble. As the attacker tried to stand up straight, Madoff hovered over him red-faced and glaring, eyewitnesses said. The stunned attacker went chicken and took off -- allowing Madoff to collect some "cred" among his fellow prisoners.
- After a month of almost constant week-over-week comp declines, same-store sales during the first week of October were up 0.6%, the Johnson Redbook reported today. Discounter comps rose 2.1%, offset by a -1.9% decline at department stores. However, on a month-over-month basis, comps rose 1.9% compared to September. Demand for seasonal apparel picked up as retailers began heading into the Columbus Day weekend, according to Redbook analyst Catlin Levis. “The main merchandise itmes in October include mid-fall seasonal apparel, Halloween, winter sports and early holiday,” she said. Halloween sales “were generally on track,” said added, with many stores putting out themed merchandise earlier than usual. Ditto for the holidays.
Greenwire:
- The US should be able to adopt limits on greenhouse-gas emissions at the UN talks in December even if domestic climate and energy legislation is not finished, citing Senator Barbara Boxer.
The Big Picture:
- Former Morgan Stanley Analyst Andy Xie explains why China is a potential bubble. Asset bubbles come and go. Each begins with a story: Japan as No. 1, the East Asian miracle, dotcom mania, how financial innovations eliminate risk – just to mention the latest four. Each begins with a plausibly bullish story, which is then magnified by the financial markets, creating the inevitable bubble.
- Brazil’s government may cut payroll taxes in a bid to encourage job creation, citing a government official.
DigiTimes:
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) are expected to implement aggressive capex plans for 2010, when the semiconductor market is likely to stage a turnaround, according to sources at the companies. TSMC has tentatively set a capex target of US$3 billion for 2010, a 30% increase compared to US$2.3 billion allocated for 2009, while UMC internally has estimated its 2010 capex will double to US$1 billion from the 2009 level of US$500 million, the sources said. Both TSMC and UMC have allocated large portions of their 2009 budgets for 45/40nm foundry capacity, industry sources commented, adding that ramping production on the processes through 12-inch facility expansion will remain a focus in 2010. SEMI has forecast chip fab spending will rise 64% to US$24 billion in 2010, following a 50.7% drop in 2009. TSMC and UMC are scheduled to hold their investors conferences on October 29 and October 28, respectively, to announce third-quarter results and disclose guidance for the fourth quarter.
Edaily:
- Samsung Electronics Co. plans to invest “a lot” in semiconductors next year, citing Kwon Oh Hyun, head of the company’s chip division.
Caijing: - Bank of China Ltd. Vice President Zhu Min may be nominated by China to become the International Monetary Fund’s vice president.